Sensemaking process with a theory-based approach (1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspective)
From observation to explanation – from practice to theory
In his Nikomachean Ethic’s Aristotle describes the idea that every virtue creates a tension for the human being by forming a pair with a counter virtue. We have to endure this tension and to balance the virtues through our decisions and actions we take in our social bodies in order to live a successful life. This is the beginning of the value square.
The classical example to show the dynamic of the value square is that of the two virtues generosity and economy.
Each value can only be appreciated as a value in its endured tension with its positive counter value. If we fail to find our balance between the two virtues we could end up exaggerating one of them in a devaluing way (Helwig 1967).
If we realize that we are stuck in a devaluing exaggeration and want do make an attempt to change this we might overcompensate and show the exaggerated devaluing form of the counter virtue. E.g, by trying not to act wasteful I could become acting parsimonious. To transform instead towards a desired inner condition that allows us to balance the tension, as individuals or as social bodies, we have to focus on the neglected virtue in the diagonally oposite corner of the square, which in this case would be acting generous. Thus the square can show how the path of necessary personal development could go. This development square is described by German communication psychologist Friedemann Schulz von Thun (1989)
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics.
Helwig, P. (1967). Charakterologie. Freiburg im Breisgau.
Schulz von Thun, F. (1989). Miteinander reden 2. Stile, Werte und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung. Differentielle Psychologie der Persönlichkeitsentwicklung. Reinbek bei Hamburg.
How could a value square around the basic principles of movement and form in SPT Social Presencing Theater look like ?
The upper line of the square indicates an inner condition of mindfulness and awareness. It affords a certain level of consciousness and is connected with the loop of healing and regenerating: open mind, open heart, open will. All three values – unconditional witnessing, unconditional love, unconditional confidence – unfold their value and create effects in the endured tension between suspending in a stable form (right side of the U-Process) and movement in crystallizing and enacting prototypes.
The lower line indicates a lower level of consciousness and is connected to the loop of ignorance and absence. Actions coming from an inner condition of frozen mind, frozen heart, frozen will tend to vary between either rigid (shut down in an echo chamber), or marked by agitation for agitations sake, ending up in e.g., analysis paralysis.
With our personal capacity building by practicing SPT we refine our capacity to endure the tension between the values on the upper level. We learn better to discern our own different ways of actions – the kinds of actions we show when sensing what we see and acting according to what we sense and thus being in service of a desired collective change from those actions we show when we do not want to sense what we see and thus cannot act accordingly in order to co-create sustainable change in the necessary directions.
UTILIZING THEORY
The value square we experienced
A deep sense-making process involving a value square in a social body that has gone through a Stuck Dance together can help us find out about the deeper shared values of this social body and about . And it can show a way to transform the inner condition of this social body by forming collective intentions and work on prototypes collectively to grow from the observed exaggerated de-valued quality to the neglected desired value in the diagonally opposite corner of the value square.
By applying the value square model to our collective experience we could see a possible similarity in the meaning of our Stucks and of our stuck dances from sculptures 1 to sculptures 2. It opened new perspectives for further conversations on what we can learn from this individual and collective experiences for our question how do deal with and how to contribute to the paradigm shift in research on SPT.
Here is the value square of our Stucks from the SPT Research Gathering in January 2020 in Denmark:
Our sculptures 1 could be seen as felt senses of our resistance and fear of losing our own intention and focus. Struggling between them meant an attempt to compensate that we in the beginning were not able to make sense of and to act in a way that was matching or intention following our open mind, open heart, open will. Our sculptures 2 and our generative conversations since we did our Stuck Dance together made us realize that we need to find our balance in the endured tension between going our own way and being in service of the whole. It was a relief to see that this would not necessarily have to be a contradiction.